In addition to launching apps, the free version offers many of the same abilities that you'll find in competitors like Butler, LaunchBar, and Quicksilver. For example, you can search your Mac, search the Web, create custom Web searches for sites like Wikipedia, look up word spellings, perform calculations, and even issue system commands.

Running with Crayons also offers additional features via the Alfred Powerpack, available only from the developer's site. The add-on, currently £12 (about $19) adds more powerful capabilities, such as the ability to run shell scripts, AppleScripts, and Automator Workflows; global hotkeys that allow you to launch apps or open documents with a keystroke of your choice; filesystem navigation; an iTunes mini player; clipboard history; the ability to create emails; and more. The Powerpack may eventually be available in the Mac App Store, but in a blog post earlier this year, Running with Crayons said it's waiting to see how the effects of Mac app Sandboxing shake out.